Comments on: The Repeating History of Closed Platforms http://richardminerich.com/2010/04/the-repeating-history-of-closed-platforms/ A programmer's chronicle of insights and discoveries Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:20:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tweets that mention The Repeating History of Closed Platforms « Inviting Epiphany -- Topsy.com http://richardminerich.com/2010/04/the-repeating-history-of-closed-platforms/comment-page-1/#comment-78 Tweets that mention The Repeating History of Closed Platforms « Inviting Epiphany -- Topsy.com Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:10:49 +0000 http://richardminerich.com/?p=68#comment-78 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Richard Minerich. Richard Minerich said: Blogged: The Repeating History of Closed Platforms http://bit.ly/ciM5Vo [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Richard Minerich. Richard Minerich said: Blogged: The Repeating History of Closed Platforms http://bit.ly/ciM5Vo [...]

]]> By: Alberto Santaballa http://richardminerich.com/2010/04/the-repeating-history-of-closed-platforms/comment-page-1/#comment-77 Alberto Santaballa Mon, 26 Apr 2010 11:33:38 +0000 http://richardminerich.com/?p=68#comment-77 Well, you already know how I feel about Apple iPhone controls especially as extended to iPad. But I still have hope for the effects of the open source community. I don't really think they alienate consumers though specific products might. Even if the products are non-profit, many of the uses can be for-profit and consumer oriented. How many people, even grandmas, run Wordpress blogs without thinking of the software they use? They buy a package form a hosting provide for a few bucks a week that magically includes installation and they're off. How many non-tech people use Android phones without thinking of the OS? To them it's just a great phone because the mobile provider and the phone manufacturer made a good package. And each product really has a lot of choice. If the community opinion splits on the correct direction, they don't just hunker down and make a decision no one wants. Many times a new branch is opened for following the idea. Many Linux distributions. Many LAMP distributions. Choice. And one of the most important things the open source community does is to force the for-profit companies to make good products. If they make products, they had better be good enough and easy enough and reliable enough to demonstrate value over being able to get the same functionality for free including future upgrades. --Al- Well, you already know how I feel about Apple iPhone controls especially as extended to iPad. But I still have hope for the effects of the open source community. I don’t really think they alienate consumers though specific products might. Even if the products are non-profit, many of the uses can be for-profit and consumer oriented. How many people, even grandmas, run WordPress blogs without thinking of the software they use? They buy a package form a hosting provide for a few bucks a week that magically includes installation and they’re off. How many non-tech people use Android phones without thinking of the OS? To them it’s just a great phone because the mobile provider and the phone manufacturer made a good package.

And each product really has a lot of choice. If the community opinion splits on the correct direction, they don’t just hunker down and make a decision no one wants. Many times a new branch is opened for following the idea. Many Linux distributions. Many LAMP distributions. Choice.

And one of the most important things the open source community does is to force the for-profit companies to make good products. If they make products, they had better be good enough and easy enough and reliable enough to demonstrate value over being able to get the same functionality for free including future upgrades.

–Al-

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